Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Krauss pushed into retirement

Lawrence Krauss, the celebrity physicist who faced dismissal from Arizona State University for violating sexual misconduct policy, has agreed to step down from the school.

In statements posted on Facebook and Twitter on Sunday, Krauss said: “I have chosen to retire from ASU in May, 2019, when I turn 65.”

I am not going to pile on here. I believe he is innocent until proven guilty. Among the accusations are that he made "sexist comments".

Krauss has written some worthwhile popular physics books. If I were going to be offended by his comments, then I would probably be offended by his leftist political views. Making sexist comments is not a crime. Not yet.

7 comments:

Come on Roger. Krauss has been accused of much stronger stuff than "sexist comments". Yes he has not been found guilty in any court of law. And he is quite capable of mounting his own public defence. But please don't minimize the seriousness of his accusers. Nor blame BuzzFeed 'journalists'. The ASU administration found the real accusations credible enough to ask him to go on administrative leave.

Just be aware that if you are going to dismiss those who have offended your sexual sensibilities from history, you will be left with an empty binder full of nothing. There is a history as old as history about the often awkward interactions between men and women. Human biology has never been a dignified thing where sexual attraction is concerned.

Einstein wouldn't have fared well under such a dismissal policy, nor would Feynman...nor many of the great mathematicians (and anyone else of note) of the 20th century. Being that I have survived numerous 'non-consensual' gropings (*shock!!* by women) in my life without anything more traumatic than a temporary mild embarrassment, I'm not exactly in the victim camp of perpetual outrage. When such things happen at a party where people have been drinking it is usually considered just part of the territory you have to navigate along with some panache.

As for 'Sexist' comments...so what. There would be nothing left on television at all (from Vaudeville, to I Love Lucy to Married with Children, to Doctor Who, to Roseanne), or in the classical works of Greek Theater or compositions of Shakespeare or the writings of Chaucer. Politically correct prudery would lay the landscape of great literature dead and barren.

In Krauss's case, the unnamed women he has been accused of groping stated herself that:

“she did not feel victimized, felt it was a clumsy interpersonal interaction and thought she had handled it in the moment,” telling Krauss directly that his behavior was not OK. According to the document: “She also stated to the OEI investigator that the incident did not merit the man losing his career.”

It appears the those most offended by the incident were not anyone actually involved in (or even witnessed) the incident, no charges or formal complaints were brought forward by the unnamed woman who herself seemed to feel the penalties levied on Krauss were disproportionate to what allegedly happened.

Well I don't know where you work but any corporate HR would bounce anyone out for that. And at ASU they are operating under Title IX which makes this clearly a violation. One of the ASU event was during a job interview. Clearly not a good time to ask a candidate if she would participate in a Threesome with your wife.

If anyone wants any legal action to be taken for whatever reason, file a police report.That's it.If you don't do this, you have nothing to complain about.

The university should have no quasi-legal standing in matters between individuals of adult age, as the colleges of America openly abandoned in parental locus decades ago when they started advocating for female students to be more sexually permissive in the glorified name of the 'sexual revolution' and 'sexual self expression'.

The issue at ASU falls under Title IX and the appropriate procedures were followed. Title IX is an administrative process. You are just ranting here. The issue with Krause was reported in a timely manner to the authorities appropriate to this type of offense. These charges did not go unreported for thirty years. You are confusing (deliberately?) the Kavanaugh issue and the Krause issue.

I watched part of this this video of a Krauss. It is interesting to hear her opinion of the appropriateness of certain flirtatious behavior. She doesn't like being touched by a casual acquaintance. Actually she says it might be okay, depending on how it is done. As she tells her story, it did not happen at the university, and it was not a big deal to her or anyone else. I usually don't like touching casual acquaintances either, but opinions vary on this subject.